Blood is a liquid tissue that includes red cells, white cells, corpuscles, and platelets dispersed in a liquid phase. The liquid phase is plasma, which includes acids, lipids, dissolved electrolytes, and proteins. One particular protein suspended in the liquid phase is fibrinogen. When bleeding occurs, the fibrinogen reacts with water and thrombin (an enzyme) to form fibrin, which is insoluble in blood and polymerizes to form clots.
In a wide variety of circumstances, animals, including humans, can suffer from bleeding due to wounds or during surgical procedures. In some circumstances, the bleeding is relatively minor, and normal blood clotting functions in addition to the application of simple first aid are all that is required. In other circumstances substantial bleeding can occur. These situations usually require specialized equipment and materials as well as personnel trained to administer appropriate aid.
In an effort to address the above-described problems, materials have been developed for controlling excessive bleeding.
The previously known materials, such as gelatin, collagen, oxidized cellulose, thrombin, fibrinogen, and other materials have been used, but each of these compositions has its limitations. For example, one type of prior art blood clotting materials are blood-derived proteins or enzymes, including fibrinogen and/or thrombin, which are expensive, need specialized storage conditions, and require extensive purification in order to eliminate the potential for transmission of blood-borne infections.
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) based compounds are typically herbal or plant-based preparations which have been used for hundreds of years and are in many cases based on traditional uses, albeit not necessarily supported by modern controlled studies.
Hemostatic traditional Chinese medicines are traditional Chinese medicines used to stop internal or external bleeding. Some of these medicines have separately claimed the actions of “cooling the blood and stopping bleeding by the astringent property, by removing obstructions and by warming channels” and are suggested for bleeding from all parts of the body, such as hemoptysis, haematemesis, epistaxis, hematuria, bloody stools, metrorrhagia and metrostaxis, purpura and traumatic bleeding. Examples of Chinese herbs that have been demonstrated to have hemostatic abilities, such as Daji Radix Cirsii Japonici, Xiaoji Herba Cephalanoploris and Heuihua Flos Sophorae.
Some TCM preparations are made by methods of long-term ambient temperature infusing of alcohol solutions standing over plant-based TCM materials. Such infusions are typically performed at ambient temperature and used as ethanol solutions.
Golden Moss is considered a plant-based Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) that has been used for the treatment of rheumatism, lumbago, sciatica and dysuria. Cibotium barometz (also called Golden Moss, Fern Lamb of Tartary, or Gou-Ji) has been traditionally used as anti-inflammatory and analgesic [Q. Wu & X.-W. Yang, J. Ethnopharm 2009, 125, 417-422]. The ground yellow hairs of its rhizomes have been used in poultices on wounds to stop bleeding due to its broad contact surface. However, there is no teaching disclosing that an extract of Cibotium barometz can be used for both hemostatic and antimicrobial applications.
Published Application No. CN 101317916A discloses a medicine for curing uterine bleeding, which contains the components with the following weight portions: 3 to 7 portions of Cibotium barometz, 7 to 12 portions of angelica, 5 to 8 portions of baical skullcap root, 8 to 12 portions of prepared rehmannia rhizome, 4 to 8 portions of longan pulp, 4 to 8 portions of carbonized human hair, 4 to 7 portions of rhizoma corydalis, 6 to 10 portions of notopterygium root and 7 to 12 portions of white paeony root. The preparation method includes decocting the raw materials and then grinding them for filling medicinal bags. However, this preparation is placed in a liquid for oral administration, not as a topical hemostatic treatment.